Using bio-adhesive and bio-inert surfaces to stabilise and influence microbial growths in Anaerobic Digesters

Dorota Dobrzanska - The University of Warwick.

In the UK renewable energy sources contribute only in 4% towards global energy production. European Union directive 2009/28/EC on Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources regulates the target for share of energy from renewable sources to reach 15% in 2020. The target uses a slightly different definition of renewable and total energy than has been used to date and includes the use of electricity and heat (and other fuels used for heating) by final consumers and energy for transport. Development of new technologies is crucial to meet this goal. The most popular renewable energy sources are biomass, wind energy and solar energy. Using energy from biogas is not widely developed due to difficulties in control of the process and limited efficiency of current technologies. Figure 5 shows the integrated approach to control and enhance the anaerobic digestion process. The Anaerobic Digestion model No. 1 developed by the Mathematical Simulation Group from the University of Lund will be used to predict the most important process parameters, such as the volume of biogas produced under certain conditions with specific composition of the substrate. The prediction from the model will be validated by real time data collection using sensors fitted to the laboratory scale bioreactors.